Invisible Interview

by Luke Baumgarten & r & Invisible thought it would be funny to offer irreverent replies to my questions. Their mirth was cut short when I phoned and told them I'd decided to put the transcript up on the website. Checkmate, Baumgarten.





Your schedule for this tour seems pretty grueling. How are you guys holding up? & r & DELANEY KELLY (Drums, Bells, Glockenspiel, Percussion): Low on air fresheners. & r & CHRIS LARSON (Guitar, Voice, Programming, Video, Sounds): Swimmingly. & r & ZACH OKUN (Guitar, Bass, Wurlitzer): There were only two nights when we contemplated suicide.





Any rough spots? & r & Delaney: St. Louis. & r & Chris: Let's just say I have no idea how toilet seats get ripped in half. & r & Zach: One night Delaney was overheard by the venue owner saying, & quot;doesn't this place just make you want to do drugs? It's like a Vegas slum. & quot; We all silently seconded that notion. If seconded is a word.





You've played shows everyday, with the exception of that long stretch between LA and Phoenix. Do you just hate Lake Havasu? & r & Delaney: Hate it. & r & Chris: I've never met a lake I didn't like. (That's possibly a lie). & r & Zach: Lake have-a-what?





How do you get invited to play a house party in DC? Were they friends? & r & Delaney: not anymore. & r & Chris: Ben's . . . chili . . . bowl! & r & Zach: Yes, from a couple awesome bands--Pagoda, and the Fairline Parkway.





How much extra gear do you guys have to carry around for the video? & r & Delaney: We've sized down for the tour. I left my blender at home. & r & Chris: Seven. & r & Zach: Not too much. Just a sheet and the projector.





Was using video something that existed from the beginning of invisible, or did it grow into that? & r & Delaney: Yes. & r & Chris: And god said, 'let there be video. and there was video. and it was good.' & r & Zach: I'm pretty sure video predated invisible. but we took it and ran.





Which takes longer from conception to production, a song or a video? & r & Delaney: I don't think any of our videos are really done yet. & r & Chris: I'll have to ask our tireless team of videobots. & r & Zach: We have video? Cool.





Which generally comes first, an idea for a song or an idea for a video? Do they happen concurrently? & r & Delaney: Yes. & r & Chris: Generally the song comes first, but as the video takes shape the song may be altered. Imagine video and audio in an arm-wrestling match, drunk, in a dc bar that wouldn't book us, with two female onlookers, and raj throwing a pillow at a guy's head, and a marine who kept handing them drinks. & r & Zach: Nice word. Concurrently.





How closely-tied is the process for each? & r & Delaney: Let's say rope, some cuffs, and a hankering. & r & Chris: Seven. & r & Zach: Definitely seven.





At these shows, what kinds of reactions do the videos get? & r & Delaney: Mostly awe. Many questions. Sometimes phone numbers. & r & Chris: it's quite amazing. no matter what city we're in, we get the same 5 questions. But in different order sometimes. & r & Zach: They get asked out a lot.





The visuals often seem keyed to specific parts of your songs - certain keyboards on "now it's a year" and the drum hits at the beginning of "Far Too Clean" - to you ever just blow it and get way out of synch with the video? & r & Delaney: Never. Pure magic. & r & Chris: If you must know, it's happened a time or two. if you see lasers coming out of my eyes, then somewhere someone in the world has dropped a beat. & r & Zach: Let's be honest. No one is perfect. Except for us.





At that point, do you speed up, start over, fast forward the video, say fuck it and just keep playing? & r & Delaney: Fuck it. & r & Chris: Start over. & r & Zach: Speed up.





The last question is a housekeeping question from my Art Director: can we use the stills on your site? & r & Delaney: Yes. & r & Chris: No, yes. & r & Zach: Definitely not. & r & Manager: For a nominal fee.